


Walk the Earth

by deathlys (orphan_account)



Series: Walk the Earth [1]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Canon, Gen, Superfamily, kind-of-canon, kind-of-superfamily, movie verse, peter parker is in the avengers, tasm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-29
Updated: 2012-06-29
Packaged: 2017-11-08 20:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/deathlys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So, Peter Parker. What can you do?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walk the Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the Avengers movie. Peter has been Spider-man for a while now but the events in the Amazing Spider-man (or other Spider-man movies) have not taken place yet. And probably won't, at least not following the canon.

It's Tony who finds out first, and it's Pepper who informs him. She sends him an email, the subject line only saying  _have you seen this?_  and the email itself containing nothing but two links. One is a news article from the Huffington Post about a mysterious hero, dubbed "Spider-man," who essentially has been rushing around saving peoples lives. The second link is to a blog that rants about the mystery surrounding this character, his disguise and anonymity, and who it could possibly be behind the mask.  
  
Apparently Spider-man has been active for only a few weeks, starting maybe several days before the entire episode with Loki and the battle over New York City happened.   
  
Tony sits back in his chair, rubbing at his face. He thinks Steve--and maybe Director Fury--might want to know about this.

  


*

  


"Who is he?" Steve asks immediately after he's done scrolling through both links. He, Tony and Natasha are gathered in Tony's office, reading the articles that Pepper sent.

"That's what everyone wants to know," Natasha says from where she's been reading over his shoulder. Luckily Steve has to lean down to see the screen, so she had no trouble viewing the webpages.

"Maybe you should confront him," Tony suggests to her, smirking. "I mean, you're the Black Widow and all--" Natasha faces him with a hard glare, but he only laughs.

"I actually half-agree with Tony, Steve says, ignoring the exchange and re-reading the article. "I want to meet him, find out who he is. Maybe he needs some help." There's a tiny, hinting tone hidden in his voice, and Natasha picks up on it.

She takes a step back, blinking at him although her expression doesn't change. "You want him to join the Avengers?"

"No, not necessarily, but we--it can't hurt to find out more about him. Besides, he seems good at this. Pointing to one of the paragraphs in the article, Steve says, "According to this, he's saved at least fifteen people in the past three weeks. I mean, I think that's pretty impressive, and he's supposed to be new at this whole hero business."

Tony is nodding. "I have no objections, and I do want to meet him, but we don't know anything about the guy. How are you planning to go about this, anyway?" He frowns briefly at his computer screen. "I mean, we don't know his civilian name, and he doesn't seem to have a base or headquarters or anything like we do."

Steve is skimming the article again. "I guess we have to wait until he reappears."

  


*

  


Nobody knows how Steve does it, but he manages to convince Natasha to do a stake-out with him while Clint and Thor create a fake disaster on the streets of Manhattan. ("There are a zillion other, more convenient ways, Steve," Natasha had complained. "Being patient is a good one." Steve had ignored her.) 

And apparently it works, because the day Steve goes to carry out his mission, Tony gets a call on his comms unit only a couple hours after the four had left. Steve's voice crackles over their comm system gleefully, and Tony can hear Natasha muttering in Russian in the background. Tony pictures her rolling her eyes as she paces whatever room they're in, and he smirks.

  
He gets down in five minutes. Steve, Thor, Clint and Natasha are waiting in one of the Tower's unoccupied rooms. There are a few tables and folding chairs scattered around the empty space, and only Clint and Spider-man are seated.  
  
Spider-man isn't wearing his mask. It's crumpled and sitting in the middle of the largest table, though his suit is still on. His face is glowing with a faint sheen of sweat, and . . . it's a lot younger than Tony would have expected. His dark, shaggy hair is stuck to his forehead, and he raises his eyebrows to meet Tony's gaze. His irises are a deep brown, with a smart, intense, challenging aura to them. "Iron Man."  
  
Tony nods once curtly before stepping over to clap a grinning Steve on the back. "Well done, Captain."  
  
Banner arrives silently, wiping water off his hands as he enters the room. Tony can tell he was just in one of the labs, probably experimenting with one of the many ideas they've come up with in the few weeks they've been together. Bruce smiles at everyone, glancing around until his gaze lands on Spider-man. That's when he shoots Steve a questioning look. It's definite what they're all thinking:  Spider-man is barely a man.  
  
Tony walks over. "What grade are you in?" he asks, because there is no way this kid can be above eighteen. "Ninth? Tenth?"  
  
The boy looks around lazily. "What is this, an interrogation?" His voice is casual, but he brushes his hair out of his eyes, darting his gaze around the room from person to person to person. "So you guys are the Avengers. Why did you want me, and why am I here?"  
  
"Snarky," Bruce comments, chuckling. He nudges Tony. "Reminds me of you."  
  
Tony ignores him.  
  
"So," Natasha places her hands on the back of Spider-man's chair, which he's leaning his side against. She's still wearing her black bodysuit, though Tony notes that it doesn't seem like she's done much in it. "What's your name?"   
  
The teenager tilts his head to look at her suspiciously before sighing. "Peter." He hesitates, then adds, "I'll be a junior this year. In high school."  
  
"What is a child so young doing in the openness of the cruel world?" Thor asks him, creasing his eyebrows. He looks almost worried. Tony wants to agree; Peter doesn't look like a fighter. He's lean, thin, but not particularly muscled or anything. "It is dangerous; this world, Peter."  
  
"I'm not that young," he squirms.  
  
"How did you get your powers?" Natasha continues. Her voice is hard, emotionless, but easy to answer to because of the monotony. Tony wants to feel proud of her. She was born for this type of thing.  
  
"You're the Black Widow, right?"  
  
Natasha doesn't blink, and presses forward. "Yes. How--"  
  
"I was bitten by a spider. Um. A radioactive one." For a moment, Peter flusters. "No one's supposed to know who I am, I--it has to be a secret."  
  
Steve's face is gentle as he puts his hand on Peter's shoulder. He can feel the boy tremble slightly under his touch. After all, he is in a room with a now-world-famous group of superheroes, which also includes two deadly assassins that could kill him in two seconds. "It's okay," he tells Peter. "We just want to know a few things, and we won't tell anybody if you don't want us to. You never told us your last name, anyway."  
  
"I--Parker. My name's Peter Parker."  
  
Natasha is smiling, looking smug. "So, Peter Parker. What can you do?"  
  
Peter wraps a hand around his wrist. The suit is nicely designed, Tony thinks to himself. There are pads on the gloves, probably to help him stick to surfaces, and it's skintight, aerodynamic. He doesn't know how much protection it offers, though. "If . . . if you don't know then I can show you."  
  
"A demonstration would be nice."  
  
Peter blinks, holding his hand out to the wall, palm facing upwards. They all watch him expectantly, but Tony notices Bruce smiling to himself like he knows what Peter's about to do. Now he wishes he'd done more research.  
  
A thin thread-like material shoots out and latches to the wall. Tony is surprised for a moment. Did Peter make those? When the boy tugs with his hand, the webby material doesn't break. It looks like a rope, how easily it twists and flexes to avoid snapping.   
  
"Impressive," Natasha says. "Did those come with the spider incident?"  
  
"No," Peter says. "I kind of made these myself." He yanks, making a strange twisting motion with his hand, and the thread drops easily from the wall. "After I was bitten, I can kind of . . . climb walls and ceilings and stuff, now."  
  
"Agility enhancement, then," Natasha nods thoughtfully. "Strength? That was probably augmented, too."  
  
Peter nods.  
  
"When were you bitten?" Tony asks, curious.   
  
"Um." Peter looks down as the rest of the Avengers all look at him with interest. Bruce steps forward, half-frowning at the string that lies on the floor. "A little less than a month ago, I think. We were . . . I was on a field trip."  
  
Bruce is crouching, observing Peter's web material. He holds the white material in his palm, rubbing it carefully with his thumb and flexing the strand. From where Tony is standing, he can see that there is a spring in the thread, like elastic. He wonders how a high schooler could be capable of creating such a thing. "You said you developed these yourself?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Bruce grins, shooting Tony a look. "Tony, he could be our new lab partner."  
  
Clint groans exaggeratedly from his chair. "We have enough science nerds already, guys--"  
  
Peter looks around warily, his eyes widening in surprise. "Wait--so--you guys want me to join?"   
  
No one has any objections. "Only if you want to," Steve tells him. "Although you are really young, so if you keep fighting on your own you're gonna get hurt eventually."  
  
Peter appears to be stunned. "But you guys are the  _Avengers_ . You're serious about this?"  
  
Everyone nods.  
  
This is possibly the weirdest method of recruiting a new team member, Tony thinks to himself. But then again, he doesn't know how normal superhero teams take in new members, so.   
  
Peter blinks. "Okay," he half-squeaks, half-mutters. "Yes?"

  


*

  


Peter moves in after five days of intense persuasion directed towards his Aunt May. He has to reassure her that, yes, he'll be safe, he'll make sure he gets to school on time, and that he'll visit regularly. He gets the room in between Natasha and Thor's, on the floor where the rest of the Avengers reside. None of them seem to have many belongings, he notes. 

Natasha comes in from next door as Thor carries in the last box of his belongings. "Hey, Peter," she says, and Peter tries to smile at her. "Welcome to the Tower."

"Thanks," he says, blinking at her. "I can't believe I'm here." 

Thor sets the box in his arms down on the floor with a noisy thump, and claps Peter on the back before he leaves. He winces. Natasha smirks at him, and he feels like--feels like a child again. It reminds him of school, being so out of place and unlike everybody else.

He swallows at the memories. School is the last thing he should be thinking about--after a week, he won't have to return for two more months. Until then, he's Spider-man. He's a  _hero_.

  


*

  


Two days later, Peter is in one of the workout rooms, training with Natasha, when the Avengers are called to assemble. JARVIS informs them all, since at any given point in time--even at night--they can be anywhere in the Tower.

Natasha is in the middle of this complicated jump-kick thing that even Peter can barely comprehend, and she lands in a crouch, brushing hair out of her face so that she can grin at Peter, whose look of surprise at JARVIS's announcement still lingers. "First mission with the Avengers, Peter," she says. "Are you nervous?"

Peter shrugs, and Natasha just laughs as they leave the workout room to head back up (up forty levels, Jesus, perfect timing) and grab their equipment. 

Tony and Steve are already prepared; Steve clutching his shield and in his suit and Tony encased in his armor. Bruce comes into the room just as Peter and Natasha do, and asks immediately, "What's up?"

"Someone thought it would be funny to let loose a giant monster chicken on New York's streets," Tony says, sounding agitated, and Peter stifles his laughter. "It's tearing apart a cafe right now."

"It's not really that funny." Steve looks around the room, holding a look of concern on his face. "This one's particularly aggressive, even for a . . . chicken."

"How big is it?" Natasha asks, slipping extra handguns into her boots and handing arrows to Clint as he rushes into the room. Peter makes sure his web shooters are secure, then goes to the side room to change into his suit.

  


"Around twenty to thirty feet, I think," Steve is replying. Peter's fingers shake as he strips himself and tugs on the costume. "Big enough to kick holes in buildings, at least." 

Thor must have arrived, because Peter hears him ask, "Who would do such a thing? I have seen these creatures before while hunting; they are provoked very easily."

"Probably not a villain," Natasha answers. "This person seems to be the type who enjoys terrorizing the public."

Peter stares at himself in the mirror. "You've done this before," he tells himself, whispering. "And now you're part of a team. You can definitely handle this." He shakes his head. He's not nervous about the giant chicken, but more about the fact that he's a part of the Avengers. He's working with the superhero team that saved New York City.

He takes a deep breath and returns to the main room.

"Ready, Peter?" Bruce asks him, mouth quirking up kindly.

Peter rolls his eyes. "I can handle a giant bird," he says.

Thor raises Mjolnir. "I have no doubt that we shall be successful." Everyone nods, before Steve orders for them to split up. Tony, Peter and Thor can get there fastest, so the three of them are to head to the open-air platform and travel from there. The rest of them will fly to the site in a SHIELD-issue helicopter.

As they rush up five more floors to get to the platform, Tony/Iron Man jams his faceplate in place, turning to Peter. "Have fun, Spidey," he says in his electronified voice. Five seconds later, they burst outside and Tony takes off in a burst of heated air.

Peter sighs, adjusting his mask.  _Here we go_ , he thinks.

The insides of his gloves are slick with sweat, but he ignores this and shoots a web at the building nearest to the side of the Tower he's on. It sticks, like it's meant to, and he takes a running jump off the platform. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Thor taking off into the sky, a bright spot of lightning and wind.

He feels the familiar whoosh of air past his ears as he swings forward,  flying through great distances from building to building. People below him are already starting to point, yelling about Spider-man come to save the day with the Avengers. He rolls his eyes a little, before he rounds a street corner and sees a screaming mass at the other end. There's broken glass and upturned cars, and chunks missing from some of the lesser brick buildings. That must be where the killer chicken is.

Tony is already there, blasting his way inside the damaged cafe and shooing spectators away. A few have stopped to take a quick cell phone picture before running off. 

Peter deposits himself gently on the ground, running as quickly as he can towards the cafe. 

There are massive feathers littering the pavement, and he nearly trips on a giant shard of glass as he runs. As he makes his way through the rubble, he can see Tony firing cords that wrap around the legs of the gigantic bird. It's huge, about two stories tall, and it's head sticks through a hole it's managed to gouge in the ceiling.

Tables and chairs are strewn everywhere. Dust and plaster coat the floor and countertops, and the bird squawks as it trips over debris, easily snapping the thin cables around it's legs.

Thor crashes through the remaining intact windows, raising an eye at the sight of the chicken. It's constantly moving, pecking at things with a stony beak and unfurling it's wings at random intervals. Peter almost gets hit by the tip of one, but is spared and gets a shower of feathers instead.

Peter ducks behind the counter, firing at the chicken's feet. One shot misses, and another one manages to tangle it's legs, sending the bird crashing into the granite cashing area only a few feet away from him. He ducks, holding his arms up to protect himself from the spray of rock that rises into the air.

"How's it going?!" he hears Steve yell from the door, which means the others have arrived.

Natasha leaps up onto a half-fallen table, immediately firing two arrow-like pins to hold the bird's wings to it's sides. "Do we kill it?" she yells over the loud hacking-squawking noise it's making.

"Not yet," Bruce says, entering the shop with Clint. He either hasn't transformed yet, or the rest of the team has decided that it's unnecessary right now. "We want to find out who created this ridiculous thing."

It thrashes wildly, sending pieces of wall and tile and granite everywhere. Peter holds up a hand to shield himself from it. "Does anybody have a tranquilizer?" he asks.

Clint has some arrows tipped with a subduing chemical, and he draws his bow back in the precise, skilled way of his.

Unfortunately for all of them, that is when the bird manages to turn itself over, launching a broken chair in Peter's direction.

He doesn't manage to get fully out of the way in time, and it slams into his left side, knocking him into the wall. A sudden needle of sharp pain shoots up his arm, and he groans. Natasha and Bruce appear magically in front of him, and he blinks. In the corner of his eye he sees Steve and Thor yell as Clint fires his arrow.

"Peter!" Natasha cups a hand to his face with concern as large hands--metal hands--scoop him up. Bruce is feeling his neck and his left arm, muttering about how he might have a concussion.

He gets dizzy; everything is swirling in a nauseous mess around him. Things get progressively fuzzier until--as cliche as it sounds--everything goes black.

  


*

  


Peter wakes suddenly. Tony's face is the first his eyes land on, probably because he's the only one talking.

He blinks. The other Avengers are also gathered around his bed, which looks like a hospital bed but not. Tony is the first to notice he's awake. "Look, Spidey's alive," he says, not even hesitating or changing his tone of voice.

Natasha immediately stands up and moves in to press cool fingers to his forehead. "You're alright?" she asks, and Peter thinks the others must also be shocked to see this motherly side of the Black Widow. She is, after all, the definition of  _femme fatale_ , constantly reminding them all that she knows thousands of ways to kill each of them at any given moment.

He looks up at her dazedly. He feels numb; they might have given him a sedative. "Did I break anything?"

"Your wrist," Bruce says quietly. "You got hit and sort of . . . passed out."

Peter moves his left hand. It's encased in a deep blue cast, and he sighs, moving his fingers to his temple. There are bandages wrapped around the side he got hit. "Great."

"You had some minor head wounds, too."

"Am I the only one who got hurt?" The words are difficult in his mouth, stinging and irritated. He feels slow and muddled, so unlike how he usually is, and it's already driving him insane. Always the precision, not the power. "And where am I?"

"You're in a SHIELD medical center." Clint holds up a heavily bandaged arm. "And no, I got hit too. Lots of glass shrapnel."

Peter nods. "This sucks. I won't be able to swing around for a while, huh?"

Natasha pets at his hair idly, brushing the strands out of his eyes. "Trust me, Peter, you can still do a lot with a broken wrist." 

Clint laughs. "We all know. I've had the unfortunate experience." He smiles fondly at Natasha though, and Peter can picture him clearly, worried and at Natasha's bedside.

"Sounds fun," he says, shifting and wincing a little. He's sore, from being slammed into the wall like that.

Natasha laughs, helping him settle back onto his pillows gently. "Thanks," he tells her, his mouth heavy and bland. She just shakes her head, and he feels himself getting sleepy again.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Start Flames to Burn Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/449654) by [deathlys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathlys/pseuds/deathlys)




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